Well, I played around with some of the mashups, tools, and third-party sites suggested - my favorites were the trading card maker and FlickrSLiDR. Here are my creations:
My librarian trading card!
I love that photo - I was dressed up as Madame Trelawney from Harry Potter for the 7th book release party at Barnes & Noble. Can you see the resemblance?Recently I helped my mother sort through my grandmother's things. She passed away about a year and a half ago, and we are just now going through everything in her bedroom, deciding what to keep, what to donate to Hospice, and what to pitch. It's a difficult and emotional process, but also exciting - my mother and I came across some really cool stuff (click on the photos to enlarge):
I found this "recipe card," written by my grandfather, tucked away in a side pocket of one of my grandmother's old purses. It's so cute and romantic! The best part is the last line - "Bake the hell out of it!" My grandpa's a funny guy.
These little cards are so adorable! I found these in my grandmother's dresser, wrapped up in tissue paper for safekeeping. My mother said that grandma wasn't sure what she wanted to do with them, only that she really liked them and wanted to keep them nice. I haven't decided what to do with them yet, either - maybe a craft project? We'll see.
My grandmother had so many purses, most of which we decided to give to Hospice. But this particular purse caught my eye. It's a faux leather clutch, and I fell in love with it! Check out the awesome lining fabric - it really makes it stand out. It even has this cute mirror attachment on the inside. Unfortunately, the outside of the purse is starting to flake, so I have to be careful with it. I'm probably only going to use it for special occasions. Still, an awesome find!Fun story: Today I went to Wendy's for lunch. I pulled up to the window to pay and gave the guy my debit card. He looked at me sorta funny, ran the card, then said, "I'm sorry, your card was denied." What?! I looked at him in disbelief - there's no WAY my card should have been denied! Then he started laughing, and said, "Nah, just kidding!" I could have been mad, I guess, but instead I cracked up. He said, "See? I made you smile." You sure did, random Wendy's employee. You sure did.
And, for your amusement, here's what I would look like if I had been in high school in the 60's, courtesy of Yearbookyourself.com:
Now that's one sexy lady, am I right? :D
Things 3 and 4 were pretty easy to accomplish - start a blog and record it in the tracking log. Done and done. I'm not sure that I really even need to post about it, but I am anyway for consistency. So... yeah. There you go.
Just so this post doesn't feel like a complete waste, here is a list of some blogs/websites/comics that you all need to check out right now:
Cake Wrecks. Just do it - you'll thank me later.
The Domestic Scientist. Renee is talented & funny - check out all of her awesome creations!
The Martha Blog. Yes, that Martha. Yes, I'm serious.
Indexed. Most of you probably read this already, but did you know that Jessica Hagy is from Columbus? Well, now you do.
Xkcd. The ultimate geek web comic. If you don't read this, there is something wrong with you, and we can no longer be friends.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I am participating in Learn & Play @ CML. As I go, I will be posting about each of the 23 "things" that we do, in hopes of getting cool prizes at the end. This is my first official post about one of the things - namely, Thing #2. Thing #1 was simply familiarizing myself with the program, so I didn't really need to post about that. (Hmm, this is starting to sound like a Dr. Seuss book - Thing #1 and Thing #2.) I hope even my non-library staff readers will find my posts about the "things" somewhat interesting, even if you already know all this stuff.
Anyhow, I just watched an online tutorial about lifelong learning. Ironically, I had already watched it before on my own when I first learned about the Learning 2.0 program. But I watched it again, and it got me thinking about people I help everyday at work. So many of them have just given up on learning, especially when it comes to computers. Most of the time it's people who need jobs, and employers expect them to be able to fill out a job application online even though they've never touched a computer before. Some of these people just want you to do everything for them, which can be really frustrating. How do you convince someone to learn when they don't want to? How do you make it exciting for them?
But not everyone is that way! We have so many customers that come to our technology training classes - they want to learn, and even if it's difficult for them, they are making progress. It's extremely rewarding to see people take charge of their lives and better themselves - and know that you played a small part in the process.
As for me, there are a lot of things I want to learn. Right now, I need to learn more about investing. Not only for my own financial gains, but because I deal with investment and business questions on a daily basis - I certainly don't want to be stumped when someone asks me to look up the price of a bond! Also, one of the 23 things is learning about wikis, and although I already know what a wiki IS, I am definitely curious about why and how libraries are using them.
Now for the assignment part of the project: what is easiest and hardest for me to do? Out of the 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners, I think it's easiest for me to teach and mentor others. I love sharing what I know with other people! On the other hand, it's hardest for me to have confidence in myself as an effective learner. I can get easily frustrated if I don't "get" something right away. That's definitely something I need to work on!
So, dear readers - what are you learning about right now, or what do you want to learn more about? Do you consider yourself a lifelong learner?
My library is finally starting Helene Blowers' Learning 2.0 program - only we're re-branding it (as we are so good at doing) to "Learn & Play @ CML" - woohoo! I've been hoping we'd do this program since before we even hired Helene, so I'm pretty excited. Of course, it won't really be hard for me to participate... I've pretty much done all of the 23 things already. But it will be really neat to see my coworkers use some of these services for the first time. I *heart* the interwebz.
Anyway, since everyone else at work is blogging about the program, I had to be sure to put in my 2 cents as well. The program starts tomorrow (with an kick off presentation by Michael Stephens, awesome), and I'll be adding this blog to the official blog roll. Hmm, I sure hope I haven't said anything on here that I'll regret... haha. :D
Jared and I are considering taking a mini-vacation in September/October - we were originally planning on going down to Gatlinburg, but we recently decided that it might be more cost-effective to just visit Hocking Hills for a weekend. It's closer, which would mean less money spent on gas, and even though it's not quite as breathtaking as the Smoky Mountains, it's still a very scenic place to visit. So for the past week or so I've been pricing cabins in the area, hoping to find something relatively inexpensive. This has proved to be a difficult task - most cabins range from $150-$200 a night, even in late October. Yikes! Anyhow, as I was checking the availability of cabins from a particular company, I saw this message at the bottom of their page (emphasis added):
"Please note: There is a 2 night minimum on the weekend at the weekend rates. A weekend is considered Thursday/Friday, Friday/Saturday or Saturday/Sunday. Holiday weekends are a 3 night minimum. Lodges are 3 night minimum - Memorial Day through Labor Day.
We apologize that our rate structure is illogical and the system can not always quote your rates correctly."
Wow. Really? Can't you just... make them logical?
I think maybe we'll be camping instead. At the very least, we won't be renting a cabin from THIS company.
If you have facebook, you've likely seen the ads that show up on the left side of the screen. Most of the time, they are pretty standard. But one day, I found this:
Apparently, this is an actual thing. Here's the petition, if you want to look at it. In case you're wondering, I'm not going to sign it. Now, if it were a petition to get the Bad Astronomer on Stargate, that's a whole different story. Sign me up!
Completely different but almost as random are the junk emails I've been getting at work. Here are a few recent ones I've received:
Umm, I didn't think junk mail was supposed to flat out insult you. Usually it just suggests that you might want to "increase ur size!!" or that you could really use some cheap Viagra. But to come out and just tell me that I look stupid?! How do they know how I look? Maybe I look great today, thankyouverymuch. Has anyone else seen junk mail like this?
Oh! Check out my Wordle:
I made it out of all of my tags on Delicious. Obviously, I like me some humor and libraries. But was there really any doubt about that?
I attended the first day of my second official library conference today - the OLC Reference and Adult Services conference. I have to say, even for a smaller affair than the first conference I attended (the big OLC Annual Conference last October), it was really nice. The food they served for lunch was great (bonus!), I was much less scared to talk to people I didn't know, and the programs and speakers were really good.
...except the last program of the day. I hate critizing presenters, because I know hard they must have worked to prepare, and sometimes things just don't go as planned - but let me explain. This particular presentation was a combination of uninteresting antecdotes, bad jokes, and the worst PowerPoint presentation I've seen since library school. His topic was adult programming in the library, and although he did stay on topic and gave some good advice about how to come up with programming ideas, he spent far too much time talking about the individual programs that he had put together, and not enough time talking about the logistics of hosting a program and marketing it to the community. After a while it just felt like he was showing off - he kept raving about all of the programs he'd put together for his library, and then would drift off into a story about the people involved in the program or try to tell a not-so-funny joke. (I'm sure it didn't help that I had a huge headache at that point... but I digress.) And when I say "bad PowerPoint," I'm talking flying/rotating text transitions (SIGH), all white backgrounds, and nothing but Times New Roman font. The slides were set up in a basic outline format, and other than some pictures of posters his marketing department created for his programs, the slideshow really didn't add anything useful to the presentation. The scary part is that he stressed how librarians need to learn to use PowerPoint (O RLY!?!), and that he teaches a technology class for patrons at his branch. To top it off, he muttered several times during the program "I hate technology!" after he'd accidentally jump forward too many slides - meant as a joke, I'm sure, but isn't that a bad sign? Especially if you consider yourself a technology instructor?
The rest of the day, however, was amazing. Joan Frye Williams gave a wonderful talk in the morning, as she always does, and I enjoyed every minute of it. After lunch, I was inspired by a program I attended on marketing your collection - now I have all sorts of good ideas to take back to work with me on how to display some of our newer titles and get more customers interested in them. And I also attended a very enlightening panel discussion about how the business community sees the public library, and what they would like to see us do to serve them better. So one rotten apple didn't ruin the bunch for me! I can't wait to learn more tomorrow morning.
You may be wondering what I've been up to. Or maybe you haven't been. Either way, you are about to find out. Oh, the magic of blogging!
First of all, I visited Chicago two weeks ago - and it was amazing! There is so much I didn't get to do (I needed to stay there a week longer!), but what I did do was completely awesome. One of the places I had to visit was the Threadless store. If you've never heard of them, check out their website - if you like unique t-shirts or creating your own designs, you'll love it! Anyway, I visited the store and bought myself a shirt. They also have art prints for sale based on the t-shirt designs. The best part is that they release the newest designs in the store before they release them online - so I got my shirt early, and actually wore it on the day it was "officially" released! Very cool.
Another place I made sure to visit was the Chicago Public Library. This is apparently the largest library in the country (and with 79 branches, there's really no doubt in my mind about that), and the main library is called the Harold Washington Library Center in downtown Chicago. I visited the library on a Sunday - I expected the place to be packed (my library is a madhouse on Sundays!) but found that it was quite peaceful. There were 9 floors - I didn't visit them all, but I could tell that each was laid out the same way. The exception was the 9th floor, which was a beautiful open room with a few tables and a glass ceiling. Surprisingly, only one person was using the space to study when I went up there. If I lived in Chicago, I would be up there everyday! You could even see the top of the Sears tower through the glass. The library had a very modern feel, but I have to say that I wasn't really impressed with the layout of the floors or the use of the space. The walls and decor were... well, not very exciting either. Not bad, just not as impressive as I had hoped it would be. But overall, it was a very nice building.
Check out all of my Chicago pictures on my Flickr page.
In other news, last weekend I was in the Pride parade with Spin Columbus. We did pretty well and everyone seemed to enjoy our performance - we got a lot of compliments afterwards, which made everyone feel really great. This weekend I will be performing with them again in the Doo Dah parade on July 4th - come out and see us if you can (and if it doesn't get rained out)!
Erica's realization of the month: Sunglasses are AWESOME. I bought a pair for myself on the way to Chicago, and I instantly felt both way cooler than usual and much more vacation-y. Now I wear them all the time, and I'm not quite sure how I have lived almost 26 years without them. In fact, I'm pretty sure people smile at me more when I wear them - this is probably either because of the aforementioned coolness factor, or perhaps because they can't see my eyes (and thus can't see the weird look I would have normally been giving them). I have also started noticing just how bright the world is without them - and when I drag my groggy self into work in the morning, the last thing I want to see while driving there is anything bright and sunny.
What exciting revelations have you had this summer?
I just got tagged by made in a treehouse, so it's question and answer time! Yay!
What was I doing 10 years ago?
Wow, 10 years ago I was just about to turn 16! I remember that I was glad to be out of school for the summer, because I had been feuding with some friends and needed a break. But I was also busy planning my sweet 16 party, which I wanted to be huge... and it was!
What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?
Well, it's the end of the day - so here are 5 things that were on my to-do list:
1. Build arcade game out of cardboard boxes at work - it's our display for Summer Reading Club, and I started working on it today with a coworker. A little late, I know, but we should have no trouble getting it done for the kickoff Saturday. I hope it turns out good!
2. Put up SRC posters - done and done.
3. Organize old family video tapes so they can be put on DVDs - I'm working on this one all week.
4. Help Jared update his resume - currently working on that.
5. Play Wii Fit - it was on the list, but I probably won't get to it tonight, unfortunately. It's so much fun though!
What are my favorite snacks?
Oh man - I love eating Doritos dipped in cream cheese. That is my comfort snack. I also love pudding - right now I'm obsessed with rice pudding. Really, I would much rather just snack throughout the day than eat full-sized meals. I have heard that it is more healthy to eat this way, but it hasn't worked out well for me thus far.
Things I would do if I were a billionaire?
Pay off my students loans - and probably Jared's too, just because I'm that nice. I would buy a house and pay off any other debt I have, then give money to my mom because she deserves it. I would probably also buy cool gifts for my friends and throw some big ridiculous party in the new house. It's too bad I'm not a billionaire, because that all sounds so awesome.
Places I have lived:
Born in Akron, Ohio
Portage Lakes, Ohio for a few months after I was born
Canal Fulton, Ohio
Atlanta, Georgia for about a year when I was 2
Canal Fulton again for a few years
Sugarcreek, Ohio from 2nd-5th grade
New Philadelphia, Ohio from 6th-12th grade
Oxford, Ohio for college (Miami U!)
New Philadelphia, Ohio for the summer after graduation
Columbus, Ohio for grad school - present :)
Hmm, who to tag? Well, let's go with The Chaser Nation and Two-Headed Blog, just because I can. I look forward to seeing embarrassing pictures of you from 10 years ago! (Kidding... kinda!)
Is it the end of May already? Lately it seems that I have been too busy to even think. Between work and being the Company Mangaer for Spin Columbus, I haven't been home or online nearly as much as usual. In fact, last night I watched 18 WebbAlerts - that's how far behind I had gotten! But I was determined to watch them all, because Morgan Webb is my hero.
By the way, I love my DVR - since I'm gone all of the time, I miss most of the shows I really enjoy watching. But no more. Like the new American Gladiators - I can watch it anytime if I'm gone on Monday night. Oh and if you don't watch that show yet, you really should. After watching this week's show (and being introduced to the new, "silent" gladiator named Steel), I thought it would be funny to come up with some rejected gladiator names. I can't remember what I came up with right now, but they were probably funny. Unfortunately, Carson Daly did that exact gag on his show that night! I don't know what makes me more upset - that someone beat me to the punch, or the fact that it was Carson Daly that beat me to the punch. Sadness.
Now that I'm caught up with TV and the internet, I need to start reading - I have an ever-growing pile of books that I just haven't had time to sit down and dive into yet. Maybe soon?
I made a very interesting find today - on my library's teen website, in the "Express It" section, there is a place for teens to submit poetry they have written. Some are silly, some are kinda depressing, but all of them are just amazing! I don't really know that much about poetry, but I am really enjoying reading through what the teens have submitted. And some of the regular posters comment on each other's poems, which is really cool.
A random list of things I have learned over the past month that may or may not be interesting:
1. No matter what flavor of milkshake you order from McDonald's, they will give you a mix of all of the flavors. A few weeks ago I swear I got a Chocolate-Strawberry-Mint milkshake. Yikes.
2. I LOVE meetings. Of any kind. Even unproductive ones. Most people hate them, but I just love them. Knowing that I have a meeting makes my day go better. Someday, perhaps, I'll be sick of them, but not anytime soon.
3. I really like the clicking sound that high heels make on hard floors.
4. If you want to light a gas grill, you should turn the gas on first. You should not just turn knobs and hit the ignition button over and over, wondering why the damn thing won't light. Just a suggestion.
5. Green is the new black.
6. If you have a bumper sticker on the back of your old crappy car that talks about how much we all pollute the air, you are a hypocrite. You're polluting the air just as much as the rest of us.
7. I enjoy going to the grocery store by myself. It's strangely relaxing and makes me feel like a grown-up. And yes, I know that I'm already a grown-up, but that doesn't mean I always feel like one.
8. I like to sew because the sound of my sewing machine will always remind me of my mother.
9. I am obsessed with Professor Layton and the Curious Village, and I want the sequel to come out RIGHT NOW.
10. I can't wait to see the new Indiana Jones movie! Eeeeee! :D
I'm just going to say it: going to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles can be a nightmare.
I don't know why, but every person that works at the BMV seems to hate their life. And because of that hate, they make your visit miserable. Nobody smiles in the BMV. You take your number, wait for your turn, and pray that you brought the 5 forms of ID that they require. Oh, you wanted to pay by credit card? Sorry. No license for you. Did you spend time this morning trying to look nice for the photo? Forget it. You're going to look like a deer caught in headlights no matter how you do your makeup. The best thing you can hope for is to leave in a mildly bad mood. At least then there might be a chance of your day improving. It helps if you have something fun to do after you leave.
I can't completely blame the workers. But it would be nice if they had some customer service skills. Is a smile too much to ask for?
Anyhow, this morning I went to the BMV with Jared so he could renew his tags. We went early, in hopes that the workers there might not be quite as jaded first thing in the morning. We made sure he had his checkbook (they do take personal checks as payment) and 2 forms of ID. Luckily, we didn't have to wait, and he had everything he needed with him. Sure, the lady that helped us had a scowl on her face the whole time, but it was a quick and painless process.
We walked out into the parking lot, and turned to look at each other. "That was the least miserable BMV experience I've ever had," I said. Jared agreed. We finished the morning by going to First Watch for breakfast, which was deliciously awesome.
Until next time, BMV...
I decided to do a little facebook stalking tonight, and I ended up kinda... bummed out. There are a lot of people I'm friends with on facebook because we went to high school or college together, and since I don't talk to most of them anymore it's nice to see what they are doing now. The problem is that many of them are doing things that are so cool or exciting that it makes me feel extremely boring in comparison. For instance, I know a guy who studies endangered birds - how cool is that? There's also a girl I know that went to school to be a governess. A governess! Then there's the people who have moved to California or Florida or are studying abroad or other things that I just wouldn't have thought of. It's so exciting, and I'm happy for all of them.
And then there's me. What do I do with my life? I become a librarian in the same state that I grew up in and have lived all my life. Does anyone look at my facebook profile and think, "Wow, look at Erica! I'm totally jealous of her awesome life!" Probably not. Most people think, "Wow, you're a librarian... wait, you need a degree for that?"
But the thing is, I really love my job. And I'm very happy here in Ohio, even if it's the same state where I was born and raised. (At least I'm in a different city, right?) So be jealous of me, facebook friends. I (enthusiastically) deal with the general public on a daily basis and live to tell the tale - that's pretty damn impressive.
I absolutely love going to concerts in the summer. LOVE IT. I'm not sure that a summer has gone by since my senior year of high school that I haven't gone to a concert. And since I save all of my ticket stubs in a special concert scrapbook, I could probably confirm that fact. Anyhow, here's the lineup so far:
THIS SUNDAY - Kids in the Hall will be at the Wexner Center at 8pm (OMG OMG OMG) and I just bought tickets for Jared and I to go. *squeal*
July 13th - Poison!!!! Hell yes. They were so awesome last summer, and I can't wait to see them again!
August 9th - Rod Stewart and Bryan Adams! Yes, I know what you are thinking. And yes, I am totally going. My mom is obsessed with Rod Stewart - always has been - and I've wanted to see Bryan Adams in concert since I was 12. I'M SO THERE. I'm surprising mom with tickets for Mother's Day, so don't frickin' tell her or I'll kill you, m'kay?
I hope there are more. I'm missing out on seeing Third Eye Blind this Tuesday night, but I'll live. I've seen them before. I will also get to see a band at the Ebay convention, but they haven't announced who will be there yet, so I don't know how excited to be. But hey, I'll be in Chicago, so it's all good. I'm going to be having a blast regardless!
I decided that I was sick and tired of the "normal" blogger templates, so I found myself a new one. What do you all think? I am enjoying how clean and refreshing it feels. Like a nice, hot shower. Which I need to go do, since I have to get to work!
Excitement for this week - my department gets to meet with Helene Blowers today, of whom I am a huge fangirl. (As a side note, I'm hoping she doesn't think I'm a complete idiot - she came up to me the other week and said, "Hi Erica! I know you from facebook!" and I just stared at her for a minute because I didn't recognize her right away. Talk about embarrassing!) Also, tomorrow is a kick-off meeting for a project I got invited to be involved with, so I'm pretty psyched for that too.
Did anyone else notice that the Internet April Fool's Jokes were just not up to par this year? My favorite though is in Google Docs - if you open up a new document, then go to the file tab, you will have the option to create a paper airplane. I like AF jokes better when they are fun and somewhat hidden - especially when we all know that Google puts out a million jokes today.
Did anyone get you good today? Online or in person?
Not long ago, I ordered a t-shirt from a website called T-Shirt Hell - this shirt, to be precise (in pink!). When I got to the payment options screen, one of the options was "Sexual Favors". Of course I clicked on it, and this is the message I got:
Hilarious!
I just read on Ohio Library News that Jennifer Sechler, a children's librarian from the Westerville Public Library, is one of 10 finalists to be the CMO - Chief Magic Official - for Disney! If chosen, she'll get to entertain and bring magic to families visiting Disney parts around the world. AKA, the best job ever. You can read a statement from Jennifer in the post from Ohio Library News. I don't know Jennifer, but librarians stick together - especially librarians from Central Ohio! Please vote for her at:
http://www.dreamcmo.com/jennifer
You can vote as many times as you want until voting ends tomorrow. So get to it! Help a librarian out, would ya?
